Friday, June 7, 2013

Chiricahuas or Bust -- Day 1

Tour de Cochise
County

Not on this tour!

May 8, 2013

Day 1 – Tucson
to Fairbank: Thank the Lord for a tailwind!

86.75 miles, 6:28, 13.4 avg

Pretty funny end to this first day. The site host here at
Fairbank did not want to come out of his RV to talk to me. He must have some
rule about after hours work. What if it was an emergency? Anyway, his partner
happened to come home, so I spoke with her. Might be some good camp spots down
the trail about a mile she tells me. Too bad I can’t camp right here in the
ghost town. Nice tables and shade under the mesquites and water spigots galore.

So I head off down the trail, swishing through the sandy
spots a bout a mile and half to a sweet spot along the San Pedro River. I’m thinking about Ramen for dinner and
then realize I have forgotten the stove! Oh no. Toting around a pot and fuel
bottle for nothing? Just as I begin to contemplate letting the noodles sit in
cold water for a while, I remember! The stove is in the pot! (It’s been a long
day.) Yee haw!

Oops. The bumpy trail ride out here has shaken the stove to
pieces. Luckily the Whisperlite is easy to put back together again, even when
you’re stomach is growling and you’re not thinking straight. Food is cooked in
no time.

The river is mine for a night

It’ll be a long slog back out of here tomorrow morning through
the mesquites and cat claws and sand. I put the tent right on the cow trail
because there are sticks and grass everywhere. Also, not sure about the human
traffic through here, so I opted to camp up in the bush a bit instead of right
down on the beach. All is good though after the Brown-crested and Vermilion
Flycatchers and Gray Hawk serenade me at sunset. Can’t wait for the dawn chorus
tomorrow!

-----------------------------

Getting out of Tucson
was quite the chore, what with traffic and all. 30 miles to Vail is a long way!
I chose HWY 10 over the shoulder-less Houghton to get down to HWY 83, and it
paid off. No problem, smooth, wide shoulder and maybe only 7 miles. HWY 83 does
have a little shoulder in most spots to my surprise, and traffic was very light.

HWY 10 - I can follow that rule

Mt. Wrightson in background

Rosemont mine site

Great scenery, but I was getting tired already on this hilly
road. After a couple of mandatory stops, I finally pull into Sonoita for a late
lunch in the nice picnic area at the Shell station, out of the wind which has
suddenly picked up big-time. I was pretty wrecked, then the woman there tells me
the road ahead is not easy either. She also says I look too pale for a cyclist
(sunscreen?), so I pay her no mind. I’m not worried. I see a massive tailwind
in my future, and I don’t remember any big hills going this way.

BOOM! I’m shot out of a cannon and head down, down, then
down some more, and it feels like someone has their hand on my back just
pushing me along the road. This is bike touring at its finest! I’m checking out
the scenery and barely pedaling at all with a strong wind out of the west.
Great grasslands! Doesn’t even matter that this seems to be the truck route
from Sonoita to points unknown.

Holy grasslands, Batman!

I scream past the junction with HWY 90 and head still
further down to the river. These might be the easiest 30 miles I’ve ever done! I
go down some more. Makes me a little worried about climbing out of here
tomorrow. Nice sighting of two Swainson’s Hawks copulating somewhere in here.
Bet that would’ve been easy to miss in a car!

Gallery forest of San Pedro river with Dragoons in background

Down

Mighty San Pedro...

A quick tour of the Fairbank ghost town, and here I am under
the cottonwoods with a million crickets!